Cored apple slicing machine



Dec; 12, 1967 I w. s PEASE ETAL 3,357,469

CORED APPLE SLICINGMACHINE "Filed Sept. 11, 1964 INVENTORS.

F 3 WARREN s. PEAS'E AND B LAWRENCE H. PAGE ATTORNEYS United States Patent Ofiice 3,357,469 Patented Dec. 12, 1967 3,357,469 CORED APPLE SLICING MACHINE Warren S. Pease, Honeoye Falls, and Lawrence H. Page, Rochester, N.Y., assignors to F. B. Pease Company, Rochester, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Sept. 11, 1964, Ser. No. 395,730 2 Claims. (Cl. 146-125) This invention relates to an apparatus for slicing fruit and more specifically for slicing cored fruit or the like into rings.

In the past, apple rings were provided by first coring the apple and then feeding the apple radially or transversely of its core axis through a plurality of spaced blades. Such apparatus oftentimes damaged apples by reason of the force necessary to push the apple through the plurality of blades. Also, by reason of lack of satisfactory means for orienting the apple as it traversed the blades, oftentimes the apple is tilted as it is forced into the blades at an acute angle to the core axis, thereby resulting in a ring having an elongated shape rather than substantially circular. oftentimes the final product is a ring with an off-center hole which is objectionable because breakage of the rings at the narrowest area and aesthetically it is objectionable to the customer when the hole is not centered. Furthermore, prior known apparatus was totally unsatisfactory for producing very thin apple rings ranging from and A5 inch in thickness of which my invention is suitable for fulfilling, as well as overcoming the other disadvantages above described or prior known devices.

It is a general object of this invention to provide an improved apparatus for slicing apples.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved fruit slicing device overcoming the disadvantages of prior known devices above described.

It is a significant object of this invention to provide an apparatus for slicing apples, more particularly cored apples into apple rings of minimal thickness down to as small as inch thickness.

It is an important object of this invention to provide an apparatus for orienting fruit along the core axis thereof, feeding the oriented fruit axially of the core axis while being oriented, and slicing the fruit transversely of the core axis while being oriented and fed axially.

Other objects and advantages of thi invention will be particularly set forth in the claims and will be apparent from the following description, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a somewhat schematic top plan view of one embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a somewhat schematic side elevational view partly in section of the FIG. 1 embodiment; and

FIG. 3 is an isometric view of the cutting or slicing blade portion of the FIG. 1 embodiment.

With reference to the figures, we have illustrated a supporting frame of any suitable construction in turn being supported on a bench or other rigid supporting surface 12. The upper horizontal surface of the frame 10 is provided with a vertical disposed apple receiving opening or hole 14. The left-hand (as viewed in FIG. 2) vertical sidewall is provided with a hole or access opening 16 for receiving a bucket or apple-slice receiving container 18. The container 18 is positioned to receive the end product in the form of apple rings or slices deposited by this invention as will be understood from the description below.

A motor base 20 is rigidly mounted on the supporting surface 12 and substantially centrally of the frame 10 and preferably the frame 10 is secured in rigid position relative to the motor base to maintain them in relative alignment. Motor base 20 rigidly carries a motor 21 rotatably driving a drive shaft 22. A substantially circular shaped cutter knife or disc 24 having an integral collar 26 is rigidly secured to the upper end of the drive shaft 22. Disc 24 has a radial slit or cut 28 (FIG. 3) along which the disc 24 is separated axially to define a cutting mouth. An upper sharpened cutting edge or blade 29 of radial slit 28 is rigidly maintained in substantially axially and parallel spaced relationship with the other edge by rigid spacers 30, at opposite ends of the slit 28. The blade 29 is sharpened along the entire edge thereof to provide a cutting blade for slicing cored apples into rings. The spaced radial edges 28 and 29 and the spacers 30 define the cutting mouth through which passes the apple rings as they are sliced. The spacers 30 may be of any selected size down to inch depending upon the selected size of the apple rings. The disc 24 gradually tapers from the blade 29 in a substantially constant helical configuration to the trailing edge 28, thereby to minimize angular deflection during and after slicing of the ring. Excessive angular deflection during or after slicing results in breakage of the ring being sliced. Hence, it is highly desirable to provide a very gradual taper away from the cutting blade 29.

It will be understood that depending upon the diameter of the disc 24, it is possible to provide more than one blade 29 extending radially across the disc 24.

A vertical tapering sidewall 31 preferably is provided extending from the left-hand spacer 30 around the outside periphery of the disc 24 to provide a substantially horizontal bearing surface riding on, for example, a Teflon roller 33 being rotatably supported on the outer end of a shaft 35. Roller 33 supports the outer periphery of the disc 24 at the position where the blade 29 slices an apple 40 as described hereinafter. A plurality of such rollers could be provided around the outside periphery of the disc 24.

We provide a vertical brace 32 rigidly mounted to the left-hand vertical sidewall of the supporting frame 10. Brace 32 has a bushing 34 rotatably carrying a manually operative crank handle 36 rigidly carrying at its outer end a transverse orienting pin or shaft 38 shown in the upper right vertical position. Pin 38 is rotatable in a vertical plane when actuated by the manually operated crank handle 36. It will be understood that the crank handle 36 could be automatically, intermittently operated to fulfill the function of the pin 38 hereinafter described.

Pin 38 is adapted to receive cored apples 39 and 40 on opposite ends thereof. The pin 38 initially receives apples at the position 39 and then the pin 38 and apple 39 are rotated so the apple is in the position 40. When the apples are in the position 40, downward pressure is applied thereto by a feeder arm 42 having a yoke 43 at its left-hand outer end adapted to engage the apple 40. Roller 35 compensates for the downward pressure on the apple thereby to maintain the blade 29 in horizontal relationship to prevent distorted rings being sliced. Feeder arm 42 is pivotally mounted on a pin 44 rigidly mounted on a vertical supporting element 46 rigidly mounted on the top surface of supporting frame 10. Manual, hydraulic, pneumatic, or other suitable force is applied to the arm 42 in a counter-clockwise direction as indicated by the arrow 48 to maintain the apple 40 in an engaged position with the rotating disc 24. Thus, it will be understood that as the disc 24 rotates in a counterclockwise direction indicated by the arrow 49 (FIGS. 1 and 3) while the apple is maintained in engaged relationship with the upper surface of the blade 24 by the pressure applied at 48 to the feeder arm 42, the blade 29 cuts a slice or ring of the apple 40 per each revolution thereof. Each slice or ring cut is of the selected thickness of the spacers 30. Arm 48 feeds the apple at a fixed rate in relation to the rpm. of the disc 24.

In operation, the operator first manually places or by synchronized automation the apple 39 is placed on the upwardly disposed end of the pin 38, then rotates the pin 38 to the slicing position of the apple at 40 while maintaining the apple on the pin 38. As the disc rotates, feeder arm 42 applies downward force 48. While the blade 24 slices the apple into rings of selected thickness depending upon the size of the cutting mouth of the blade 24, another apple is inserted on pin 38 at the position 39 ready for rotation to the slicing position 40 by operation of the crank handle 36.

It will be understood that, after the apple 40 has been completely sliced as it is fed by the feeder arm 42 by rotating of the blade 24, the feeder arm 42 is retracted in a clockwise direction about the pivot 44 to permit rotation of the apple 39 to the position of the apple 40. Also arm 42 may have a slot 45 receiving pin 44 whereby the arm 42 may be retractedto the right before rotating the pin 38.

This is a continuous process by which apples .or other fruit, vegetables or the like are cut into thin slices of selected thickness down to approximately of an inch. An average apple is cut into approximately 48 slices 5 of an inch thick. It is desirable that the disc 24 travel fast enough to cut thin slices so the mass inertia of thin slices are not horizontally displaced but fall substantially vertically down into the bucket 18.

As illustrated, it is preferable for the apple 40 to be fed axially of the rotating blade 24. However, it will be understood that, depending upon the desired shape of the apple ring, it is possible to provide an orienting pin 38 extending angularly to the axis of the rotating blade 24 and feed the apple transversely of the blade 24 at any suitable angle.

While we have shown'and described the preferred form of mechanism of our invention it will be apparent that variousmodifications and changes may be made therein particularly in the form and relation of parts, without departing from the spirit of our invention as set forth in the appended claims.

We claim: 1. Apparatus for slicing cored fruit or the like into rings comprising:

(a) means comprising a pin receiving cored fruit for orienting said fruit along the core axis thereof; (b) means for slicing fruit transversely of its core axis; and (c) means for feeding said fruit axially of said pin into said slicing means, said feeding means being mounted to radially retract from said pin and mounted independently of movement of said pin. 2. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 in which said feeding means comprises an arm mounted on a support member being stationary with respect to said slicing means, said arm extending substantially radially of said pin and extending between .said support member and said pin.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,270,041 6/1918 Miller 146-151 2,530,063 11/1950 Jagenburg 146-6 477,377 6/1892 Marlindale 146 113 482,493 9/1892 Zastrow 146-42X 1,445,997 2/1923 Coons.

1,683,481 9/1928 Pea'se 146--40X 2,602,480 7/1952 Taylor 14637 3,032,087 5/1962 Rodwick 146-125 FOREIGN PATENTS 228,608 12/1943 Switzerland.

W. GRAYDON ABERCROMBIE, Primary Examinert 

1. APPARATUS FOR SLICING CORED FRUIT OR THE LIKE INTO RINGS COMPRISING: (A) MEANS COMPRISING A PIN RECEIVING CORED FRUIT FOR ORIENTING SAID FRUIT ALONG THE CORE AXIS THEREOF; (B) MEANS FOR SLICING FRUIT TRANSVERSELY OF ITS CORE AXIS; AND (C) MEANS FOR FEEDING SAID FRUIT AXIALLY OF SAID PIN INTO SAID SLICING MEANS, SAID FEEDING MEANS BEING MOUNTED TO RADIALLY RETRACT FROM SAID PIN AND MOUNTED INDEPENDENTLY OF MOVEMENT OF SAID PIN. 